


The Clark Kent Effect

by deinde_prandium



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Post-Relationship, Pre-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Secret Identity Fail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27444997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deinde_prandium/pseuds/deinde_prandium
Summary: In which Marinette is an oblivious idiot. And may need an eye exam. Pre-reveal, post relationship.Based on a discussion in the ML Writers Guild discord on the topic: what if Adrien got glasses, and Marinette didn’t recognize him?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 47
Kudos: 270





	The Clark Kent Effect

**Author's Note:**

> Much love to my ML Writers Guild peeps for keeping me entertained/distracted and prompting me to write this while I was a ball of anxiety on Election Day.

It’s around the eighth time she catches herself looking at him that Marinette realizes she might have a type.

She doesn’t know who he is - this lanky blond man who keeps shooting looks her way from across the café - but there’s something about him that makes it hard for her not to return his stare. It must be the glasses, she thinks. It kind of gives him this hot, dorky professor vibe that she finds a lot more attractive than she had anticipated.

No, she scolds herself. You’re dating Adrien now. The love of your life, remember? It’s not right for a woman in your position to be ogling other men.

Then again, she’s not blind. And there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging beauty when she sees it. Even if all those beautiful people happen to look a little bit alike.

Marinette sneaks another peek.

The hot blond professor is still staring at her. And he’s smiling, grinning even - the kind of charming, playful smile that seems to say _I know something you don’t know_. It’s a little unfair how nice of a smile he has, actually. It reminds her of yet another blond in her life. But then, Chat Noir hasn’t smiled like that for some time now; he’d blessedly backed off without argument when she had told him she’d started dating someone. 

But the longer this staring contest continues, the more Marinette starts to wonder if there’s another reason this man keeps grinning at her. There’s a familiarity to him that raises her hackles and makes her suspect that maybe, just maybe, this guy isn’t a stranger after all.

The sooner Adrien gets here, the better.

A few minutes pass, and still her boyfriend hasn’t arrived. Marinette looks at her phone, mildly puzzled by his tardiness. Puzzled, and annoyed - though she attributes the latter to her own guilty feelings.

She decides to check up on him. _Are you coming or what? I’m waiting for you,_ the text reads.

A guffaw rings out from the other side of the room. Marinette looks up, and is somehow not surprised to find that the source of the laughter is none other than Mr. Professor. She’s a little more surprised to see him stand from the bar, gather up his coat, and make a beeline for her table.

“Is this seat taken?” he asks in honeyed, flirtatious tones.

“I’m waiting for my boyfriend, actually,” Marinette responds curtly. She winces at the rudeness of her reply.

If the man is offended, he certainly doesn’t show it. In fact, he simply drops into the empty chair with another laugh. “I’ll have you know that I was waiting for _you_ ,” he says. “I didn’t realize at first we were playing this game.”

“What game?” Marinette asks. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. We’ve never met. I don’t even know who you are,” she adds with a little huff.

“Ah, but we have. And of course you know me. Having this kind of eyewear doesn’t change who I am, Marinette.” 

The blond man’s eyes gleam behind a set of thick, dark frames, and it’s at that moment she realizes that they’re green. 

Blond hair, green eyes. Flirts like the devil. _Knows her name_. 

Oh no. 

Hot glasses man isn’t a stranger at all. He's actually-

“ _Chat Noir_?” she hisses quietly. “What are you doing here?”

Mr. Professor pales. “I- ah, what? Why would you call me that?”

“Oh please,” she huffs. “It’s so obvious. But how can you be so cavalier about this? This is your _identity_ , Chat. You’re supposed to keep it safe, even from people like me!”

At the very least, he has the good sense to look remorseful. “Marinette,” he intones, “I swear, I never meant for you to find out like this. I thought you were joking, that we were just doing one of those cute roleplay type things, and-”

“Why on earth would you think I’d want to play a game like that with you?”

“You were staring at me.”

“You were staring at _me_!”

“What, am I not allowed to look at my girlfriend?”

Marinette freezes. “What did you say?”

Chat Noir leans back and removes his glasses, scrubbing his face with one hand. “Hold on, I’m getting really confused now. Are you- did you not- what are we even talking about?”

He doesn’t get a reply. Marinette is too busy looking down at the glasses on the table, up to his face, and back again.

Oh no.

Turns out she doesn’t quite have a type, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm deinde-prandium on Tumblr. Come by and say hello :)


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